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From
the Book of Valentines
by
Bliss Carman
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A
NEIGHBOUR'S CREED
"Nor
knowest thou what argument
Thy life to thy neighbour's creed has lent."
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All
day the weary crowds move on
Through the grey city's stifling heat,
With anxious air, with jaded mien,
To strife, to labour, to defeat.
But
I possess my soul in calm,
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Because
I know, unvexed by noise,
Somewhere across the city's hum
Your splendid spirit keeps its poise.
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II
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Because
I see you bright and brave,
I say to my despondent heart,
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10 |
"Up,
loiterer! Put off this guise
Of gloom, and play the sturdier part!"
Three
things are given man to do:
To dare, to labour, and to grow.
Not otherwise from earth we came,
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Nor
otherwise our way we go.
Three
things are given man to be:
Cheerful, undoubting, and humane,
Surviving through the direst fray,
Preserving the untarnished strain.
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Three things are given man to know:
Beauty and truth and honour. These
Are the nine virtues of the soul,
Her mystic powers and ecstasies.
And
when I see you bravely tread
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That
difficult and doubtful way,
"Up, waverer; wilt thou forsake
Thy comrade?" to my soul I say.
Then bitterness and sullen fear,
Mistrust and anger, are no more.
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30 |
That
quick gay step is in the hall;
That rallying voice is at the door.
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